Las Vegas man arrested in California woman’s 1974 stabbing death
A Las Vegas man has been charged with murder in a California slaying that occurred nearly a half-century ago.
National City, California, police said Carlin Cornett, 68, was arrested Tuesday at his home near West Desert Inn Road and South Durango Drive. They said the long-haired man was linked by DNA evidence to the July 31, 1974, stabbing death of Christy Allen Bryant, 22, as she worked alone at a 7-Eleven convenience store in National City.
Derek Aydelotte, an investigations lieutenant with National City police, said in a news release that police had gathered the killer’s blood from the scene of the crime 47 years ago and that detectives never gave up on solving the case.
“The DNA profile from the blood evidence remained in (a DNA database) and was searched regularly with no hits,” Aydelotte said.
A phone call to Cornett’s residence in Las Vegas was not immediately returned on Monday.
Aydelotte said recent advancements in DNA testing led investigators to Cornett. The San Diego County district attorney’s office issued a statement saying Cornett was identified as a suspect with the help of a genealogist with the district attorney’s grant-funded “Cold Homicide and Research Genealogy Effort.”
“We are committed to solving cold case homicides and prosecuting killers in collaboration with our law enforcement partners,” San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.